Posts Tagged ‘Topper Headon’

Steve Strange is perhaps best remembered as the front man for the popular ’80s new wave band, Visage. Like many young people in the UK during the mid ’70s, Strange couldn’t resist the pull of punk rock. After witnessing a Sex Pistols show in 1976, he began setting up gigs for punk bands in and around his Welsh neighborhood. Soon thereafter, he formed his own punk band, the Moors Murderers that counted future Pretenders leader Chrissie Hynde and future Clash drummer, Topper Headon, as members during it’s rather short lifespan. Strange soon moved to London where he worked for Malcolm McLaren before forming Visage in 1978. The group helped pioneer the New Romantic movement which also included such acts as Duran Duran, Culture Club and Spandau Ballet. Visage’s second single, 1980’s “Fade To Grey,” was a big hit across the UK and beyond. More hit singles and albums followed until Strange closed the initial chapter on the band in 1985. During the late ’80s and early ’90s, Strange developed into a popular club DJ, helping to popularize the trance movement in its early days. In 2004, he reformed Visage which continued on in one form or another through the remainder of his life. Steve Strange passed away following a heart attack on February 12, 2015. He was 55.

Pete Farndon was the founding bassist of the Pretenders. In 1978, Farndon became the first member of the band to be recruited by Chrissie Hynde. He was soon followed by guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and drummer Martin Chambers. Together they created a sound that fell somewhere between punk and new wave, giving them equal parts respect and commercial success. Farndon’s heavy bass and tough image only complimented Hynde’s bad ass image, helping her become rock royalty. After two back-to-back successes with The Pretenders and The Pretenders II , Fandon’s professional relationship with the band began to sour due to his exsessive drug use. He was asked to leave the band in 1982. But it was Honeyman-Scott who died of drug-related causes just two days after Farndon was let go. Less than a year later, while Farndon was putting together a band with former Clash drummer, Topper Headon, he drowned in his bathtub after an apparent heroin binge. He was just 30.